True Detective: "Haunted Houses"Review

With just two episodes left to go until the season's end, True Detective's sixth episode was its most straightforward one yet as it provided answers to why Marty Hart and Rust Cohle had a falling out in 2002 and saw Cohle follow up his new leads on the Dora Lange murder to the bitter end.

Coming off the highs of the virtuoso, single-take escape scene and the Big Revelations of the last two episodes, "Haunted Houses" had the thankless task of basically having to be the more conventional, procedural episode where answers were given and plot lines advanced just enough to keep you hanging for the penultimate episode.

Of all the episodes of True Detective so far, "Haunted Houses" is the one that felt the most like a cop show, right down to the rogue detective being suspended by his hard-nosed boss (Paul Ben-Victor, taking over for Kevin Dunn) for ruffling feathers ("Your gun and badge!"). This was the episode charged with having to give answers: about why Hart and Cohle fell out in 2002, about why Marty's marriage finally crumbled, and about why Cohle left the force at that same time. As many fans had (correctly) suspected, all of these reasons were linked.

As many of us expected, Rust and Maggie did indeed hook up but only after she found out Marty was cheating on her again and Rust's relationship with Laurie was over. She tried to hook up with a stranger in a bar as a revenge lay, but alas she wanted to hurt Marty more deeply and personally than that by seeking out his partner for solace. Rust ultimately rebuffed her, but it was too little too late by then for the minute man (no wonder Rust's so glum with staying power like that).

Rust and Marty had already basically fallen out by this point, making it the other loveless marriage in Marty's life. Rust masterfully manipulates the "Marshland Medea," but Marty bristles when he's then relegated to clerical work. Marty's resorting to violence to deal with perceived disrespect -- never more chillingly depicted than his glove-donning opening moments with the teens arrested for sleeping with his eldest daughter -- was already evident by the time he shoved Rust over being asked to type up the reports. Knowing he'd go ballistic after he learns of Maggie and Rust's tryst was expected. At least he left his gun behind. But then, at the very end, to see Marty check his gun after being reunited with Rust and being invited to get a drink can't help but make you wonder: Is Marty scared of Rust after all he's heard from Papania and Gilbough, or is he looking to cover his own butt for misdeeds so far unrevealed? We shall see.

Marty falling off the wagon was sadly inevitable, but making it be linked to Beth, the young woman he'd "rescued" from prostitution in 1995, was gimmicky. The prominent framing of his wedding ring during their sex scene was fairly on the nose, but nevertheless effective. The plethora of tampon jokes in this episode -- from Marty carrying the bags of them into the bar to his boss calling him a "human tampon" in the midst of chewing out Cohle -- were the lightest moments in what was yet another heavy episode of this dark series.

Rust interviews Rev. Billy Lee Tuttle (Jay O. Sanders), the cousin of the former governor, and learned about his school program and its ties to the murder case even as 2012 investigators Papania and Gilbough essentially claim Cohle somehow killed him with an overdose a few years back. Tuttle certainly seems guilty, but being such a political creature even his asides seem cloaked with just enough wiggle room. [Editor's Note: An earlier draft of this review incorrectly labeled Billy Lee Tuttle as the former governor. Sorry for the goof in not keeping our Tuttles straight.] Rust using the term "coverup" to Major Salter definitely added fuel to the fire at work, but Cohle's ultimately quitting the force was a bit underwhelming.

This episode saw the return of Shea Whigham as Theriot, now a booze-soaked shell of his former self. Theriot steers Cohle in the right direction, but is he telling Rust all the facts? Does he know more than he's letting on? We shall see in the remaining two episodes ahead. It was sad to see that poor girl Rust and Marty rescued from Ledoux's place in a catatonic state all these years later, and even sadder to see her brought to tears when Rust comes calling. (Seriously, no cop had tried to ask her such basic questions until then?)

Michelle Monaghan had her best episode yet as we saw Maggie brought in by Papania and Gilbough and her lying to them about what happened. At this point, we can't trust that any character on True Detective will ever tell the truth. Maggie's discovery of Marty's latest affair was played differently than one might expect as was her flat-out telling him she had sex with Rust. By this point, she wanted to hurt Marty and in a way that would leave as lasting a hurt and impact on his world as his cheating had left on hers.

The suspicions are mounting more against Marty Hart than they are against Rust Cohle at this point, despite the ending of last week's episode. Marty's anger, his insecurities, and his lies are too much a part of who he is now for us to think his refusal to help Papania and Gilbough any further is out of loyalty to Cohle so much as it is his own self-protection. Ditto Maggie's. Are fan theories correct that Cohle in 2012 is actually living "undercover" trying to smoke out the truth about the Dora Lange murder and the connected disappearances and slayings? Or is he attempting to set up Marty Hart as his last piece of masterful manipulation?

The Verdict

We find out why Marty Hart and Rust Cohle had such a bitter falling out in 2002, and finally meet the power player somehow involved in the cult killings, in this fairly by-the-book (but still gripping) episode of True Detective.

Amazing

Even the most conventional episode yet of True Detective is still better than everything else currently on TV.